The JVM alone probably can't beat Rust. But here is what is amazing about JVM languages... 3 top 15 languages are JVM native and each have ways to go native if/when you want. GraalVM Native Image (which works for any JVM language), Kotlin Native, and Scala Native. People really underestimate the value of languages that can both be JVM and native. I've extensively used all 3 of these languages and the native options aren't a step-down escape hatch when you need to go serverless or CLI... The ability to target both JVM and native is the super power! When I need native in prod I don't actually do native in dev. Local dev is on the JVM because compile & hot-reload time is quick. And then in CI/CD I build for native, test against native, and deploy native. Turns out... You can have your cake and eat it too (native performance, JVM enterprisey-ness, and local dev happiness). All in 3 great, ubiquitous languages!